I'm curious why many of the media outlets claim that TPM 3D underperformed. How much was it supposed to make? It was a 1999 film that was just released on Blu Ray a few months prior that many people already owned on DVD and VHS. Was it supposed it gross 100 million domestically?

Oddly enough, I am a bit bummed that I won't be able to see ROTS in 3D. That was the one I thought would look coolest in the format, plus I just wanted to see it again on the big screen. Hopefully all six movies, or just the OT, get re-released as special limited engagements. I really enjoyed seeing Raiders in Imax last year, and would love to have that same opportunity with Star Wars.

By all accounts at the time, LFL needed TPM3D to do a minimum of like $20mil which it barely did that, if I recall... I think it's tough to look at TPM3D and say it did well.

Star Wars is used to re-releasing stuff, and people ******* to it, and they clearly didn't for this. I think they just thought we'd put it out, and everyone would come back and watch. They've really hung onto the notion that TPM was a great film... I don't think you could tell them any different, and then last February they got a wake-up call. I'd not be shocked, at all, if Lucas maybe sped up his retirement plans based on that, just a little bit, in the back of his head.

He's very unapologetic, not that he needed to, but I feel like he honestly didn't believe the criticism of the prequals. He figured they were every bit as good, or better, than the OT, in his mind, and he wasn't really into hearing anything to the contrary.

That is very interesting. I initially thought that maybe the profits from the 3D re-releases were supposed to fund the sequel trilogy. At one movie a year, that doesn't seem likely though. The Blu-Ray box sets were wildly successful though.

Quote

Variety is reporting that Star Wars has sold more than one million units in only a week on the markiet, shattering records for the high-definition format, and further cementing Blu-ray's dominance as the home video format of choice.

Despite an average list price of $79.99, the nine disc set generated more than $84 million in worldwide sales. U.S. sales accounted for $38 million of that total, with 515,000 units sold in North America.

That was September of 2011. Expecting families to shell out 3D ticket prices for TPM just four months later is a tough sell. Still, TPM3D opened to 22m and grossed 44m domestically. It earned 102m worldwide. I'm just not sure what a realistic number would have been to be deemed successful.

But how many times do you go to the well? If there's one thing I'm confident in the J.J. Abrams era is that they're not going to be pushing crap on us every five seconds. Abrams knows how to build buzz. If Star Wars is constantly available, it loses luster. Look at Disney and its "vault" mentality. Granted, it's an extreme example, but there's got to be a healthy middle ground.

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I'll be among the first ones to say that TPM 3D was underwhelming. But I loved taking my son and his friends to see it on the big screen. And the footage from Ep 2 and 3 looked pretty good. $43,456,382 was the gross for TPM, not terrible given all the factors. But it was promoted heavily and the cost of the release had to be high.

I feel for Hasbro if they have been left out of the loop. And that takes a lot for me to say.

I can't say that I'm terribly surprised. I skipped TPM in 3D, and didn't really feel all that bad for doing so. Would it be nice to have seen all of the Saga converted to 3D? Sure. But to me, that's a luxury. I think that I'd rather have Lucasfilm/Disney focus more on new Star Wars content than regurgitating and repackaging older content.

I would have loved to take my boys to see 4/5/6 on the big screen (3D or no 3D) in 2014 order to get them ready for Episode 7 in 2015. Leave it to TPM to ruin yet another thing...

I'm kind of in the same boat as Jeff, I was more so looking forward to seeing the OT on the big screen again (even if it wasn't in 3D). I took my daughter to see TPM in 3D last year, and she loved it. I don't even know if it was because of the 3D (and she had seen TPM at home before), but just the whole "event" of going to see Star Wars at the theater. With some of the info. that has leaked about with the new movie and Disney's stance on SW, it seems they really prefer the tone and to focus on the Original Trilogy as far as their backing, so maybe it is still possible to get re-releases of the OT next year or something? Maybe not likely, but fingers crossed.

For as much as we complain, you seriously almost have to feel bad for Hasbro. It has to be so tough for them to plan a SW line these days with the combination of things going on. I almost wouldn't be surprised (or blame them) if they just packed things up or did re-releases until the Episode 7 stuff hits. Plus the fact that if they do stick to the 2015 release, it may be difficult to get things ready to go by the time they get actors cast (and scanned), vehicle pics/schematics, etc. for the new movie(s). They usually have more lead time than that I believe, right?